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Discovery Of Gliese 581g Giving Science A Bad Name

It used to be that science had some dignity and commanded some respect. It was, after all, SCIENCE!

But like everything else in this age, things seem to be unraveling in the world of science. It is no longer sacrosanct.

Earlier this year, we learned that environmental “scientists” were cooking the books for political reasons. Rather than having absolute, unshakable integrity and dedication to The Truth, they doctored data, threw out inconvenient samples, and lied about facts. They were the Bernie Madoffs of science.

Well, here we find a “scientist” who is making a preposterously bold claim on such thin data that it boggles the mind. When you consider how much we do not know about the origin of life, it is astonishingly irresponsible of a reputed scientist to claim a 100% likelihood of life existing on another planet, just because we might find liquid water there.

“Personally, given the ubiquity and propensity of life to flourish wherever it can, I would say, my own personal feeling is that the chances of life on this planet are 100 percent,” said Steven Vogt, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, during a press briefing today. “I have almost no doubt about it.”

One-hundred percent?! Really?!? 100%???!!! His definition of “wherever it can” includes everywhere he’s ever been which includes, um, Earth. And from there he extrapolates to include the perhaps trillions of planets revolving around hundreds of billions of stars in our own galaxy, not to mention the seemingly infinite galaxies in the rest of the universe. Life has never been created in a laboratory here on Earth, yet Professor Vogt is positive that it exists on this newly found planet, given the fact that it might have liquid water on it. Gas stations also have a propensity to flourish wherever they can, so they must also exist on Gliese 581g.

This has nothing to do with religion or creationism. It’s just painful to see science falling into the hands of such inadequate stewards.

When you can’t trust scientists to be true to science, your world is in serious trouble. Though you can’t tell it from the placid picture above, the planet shown is in serious trouble. And it’s not because of fabricated global warming. It’s got more to do with the feeble-minded, emotional creatures that infect its surface.

Hopefully, the scientists that undoubtedly exist on Gliese 581g will have a stronger commitment to hard-core science than Steven Vogt does.